


Spring Time Hopes

by Madam_Violet



Series: The Vault Chronicles [20]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Christian Holidays, Easter, Fluff, Gen, The Vault (Doctor Who)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-02
Updated: 2018-04-02
Packaged: 2019-04-17 14:20:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14190867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madam_Violet/pseuds/Madam_Violet
Summary: The Doctor and Missy discuss the true meaning of Easter.





	Spring Time Hopes

Spring was coming and the small walk between his office and the warehouse hiding the Vault made the Doctor feel light-hearted. The soft sunlight and the light air made everything look crystal clear, with the slightest hint of golden. When the warm days were showing and the students started to feel the holiday around the corner, the Doctor felt a lot of his worry leaving his shoulders and started to think about new projects and travels. As soon as he passed the Vault doors, however, his springtime mood started to deflate.  
To be fair, he was pretty proud of his engineering. The Vault wasn't too gloomy at this time of the year. The artificial light was shining pretty natural and the temperature was perfect. The indoor garden trees had started to blossom and the tiny green buds were now small leaves of the most tender green. But the air was still stiff, with no little breeze, no flowers smell, no singing birds and laughing children.  
"Hello" He greeted softly.  
"Hello to you, my benevolent gatekeeper." Missy sang with a playful voice from her spot in the back of the Vault.  
The Doctor took a few steps inside, noticing she had put her blossoming potted flowers on the table. He made a mental note to bring her more plants. She was currently lying on the floor, bathed in a puddle of sunlight. The Doctor cracked a smile, unable to stop thinking about this funny video he saw on the Internet showing the progression of a bunch of cats along the day, moving with the sun to always nap in the sunlight.  
She was colouring a picture from an adult colouring book, a glass of pink soda and a bowl of small coloured sugar eggs in hand reach. She seemed in a light springtime mood too, despite being locked up. She had always been so sensitive to little things, especially in the Vault were everything was quiet.  
"You've got a new colouring book ?" he asked with a soft voice. "And also some candy ? You must have been really nice with Nardole."  
"Apparently I wasn't supposed to scribble on his important papers. Oopsie ! Why do humans use paper for their important matters, though ? A fire or a flood can come so quickly !" she said with a devious smile.  
The Doctor chuckled softly.  
"So you misbehaved and still got rewarded ? I shall have a word with Nardole and his so called soft but firm attitude."  
"I've helped him to fill his grids with numbers all over again. It was pretty fun, actually."  
She stood up and stretched leisurely before swirling in direction of the Doctor and pecking a kiss on his nose.  
"You look really happy with yourself today. Any reason ?"  
She shrugged.  
"Maybe the weather. I wish I had this weather all year long."  
"You can't. It wouldn't be good for your garden, and you'd get bored with it. Spring is nice because it feels like a rebirth. By the way, it's almost Easter."  
"I know, there are bunnies and eggs all over my colouring book and cartoons on TV."  
She took a handful of sugar eggs and pops one in her mouth.  
"Hmm, I should make a nice card for Nardole, it's his party after all."  
"First part is quite nice, but I'm not quite sure about the second one."  
Missy laughed light-heartedly and the Doctor watched her swirling around to her garden, where she listed all the new blossoms that appeared since his last visit. She really had her good moments, he thought. It was moments like those that made him proud of his rescue plan and sort of happy to spend the next millennia by her side.  
"Missy, do you know what Easter stands for ?"  
"It's the day children chase eggs in the garden. Also, it has some obscure religious meaning, like almost all the fun celebrations on this little planet. I guess nothing's perfect."  
Missy was now sitting in the lounge space, pouring a glass of pink fizzy drink she pushed in the Doctor's direction. He nodded at her implicit offer and took a sip.  
"Thanks. You know, humans have celebrated Easter thousands of years before Christianity. They called it different ways, of course, but all those ceremonies kept the same idea of rebirth and renewed fertility of the Earth. That's what eggs and rabbits stand for, by the way."  
"Eww, don't talk to me about spawning, please. I'm glad our specie is above this primitive urge."  
"You seem to really like gardening."  
Missy bit her lower lip and shrugged.  
"I like to watch my plants grow. Everything is so still here, it's almost a tomb. My plants are the only living things I have when no one's here."  
"You know, Easter isn't only about fertility and spring. It's also the celebration of changing. You know what Christians celebrate, don't you ?"  
"You think I'm an ignorant child, don't you ?" Missy snorts bitterly. "I'm still older than you, if we count our years."  
"I know, it was only a rhetorical question."  
"Well, to answer it they celebrate the regeneration of their prophet, Messiah or whatever."  
The Doctor chuckled softly.  
"Regeneration ?"  
"Off course, regeneration. Glowing light, new face, do you need a picture. Well, that's not like there weren't any, with all those centuries of religious art."  
"I've never thought about it that way" the Doctor admit.  
Missy's cheeks reddened and a disappointed look struck her face.  
"What happens, Missy ?"  
"You mean it wasn't you ?"  
"What do you mean ?"  
"I mean, the Saviour, it wasn't you ?"  
The Doctor burst into laughter but stopped abruptly as Missy looked so mortified.  
"You thought I was the Christ ?"  
"Human mother, sickeningly righteous, lots of human pets. Admit it, I had all reasons to believe what I believed !" Missy almost cried in self defence.  
"It's really flattering to hear that. But honestly, I'm glad it wasn't me. With all the horrors committed in his name, I would never have dared saving a planet again ! But it's not impossible he came from another planet."  
"I thought you'd approve him" Missy said in disbelief.  
"I do, actually I have a lot of admiration for him. Maybe I took a bit of inspiration from those stories in the books. Unfortunately humans have the terrible habit to turn everything pure and good into the worst horrors. I guess they're not that different from the Time Lords."  
Missy crossed her arms on the table and put her head in the makeshift pillow, watching the Doctor expectantly with wide, almost childlike eyes. That could only mean one thing, it was story time. The Time Lord took his phone out of his pocket and started browsing for an online Bible. Once he had finished with his story, Missy sighed, her eyes almost teary.  
"Why didn't his own friends recognised him on the way from the graveyard ?"  
"I've always thought about some sort of perception filter, but your theory about a new face is probably right actually. Makes more sense."  
"Humans are dumb."  
"No, they're not. They did recognise him when he split the bread, and they were sure it was him even if the face was one of a complete stranger. Isn't it beautiful ?"  
"I guess it is."  
"You know, it's not only about regeneration. Why would it be, humans don't regenerate."  
"Thanks, Sherlock."  
"What I meant is that regeneration isn,'t the biggest kind of change a Time Lord, or whatever specie, can go through. You've regenerated an awful lot, more than anyone, and you almost never changed. Same rubbish beard..."  
"Hey ! Meanie !"  
"Same devious plans. Actually, you've probably changed more in a few decades here than in thousands of years of countless regenerations."  
"You think I've changed ?"  
Missy had lifted her head and was now staring at the Doctor with a painful mix of hope and apprehension.  
"Off course you have. You're not quite good yet, but look at you. Helping Nardole repairing your own misdeeds, having fun with innocent activities like colouring and gardening, listening to my ramblings about Earth myths and traditions."  
"I only wanted Nardole to buy me some candy, and I've always liked calm hobbies." she defended herself warily.  
"I know, but you're still softer and yet stronger than any previous bodies of yours."  
"Stronger ?" she asked with a frown.  
"You're locked up for a thousand years in a box and you still look happier than anyone I've met up there."  
"It's because you're here and you treat me so nicely" she almost purred in the most innocent way.  
"Changing make all of us scared, but in the end it's often for the best. You have time, Missy. All the time in the world. A thousand years or more if you ask."  
Missy nodded thankfully and the Doctor smiled, quite proud of her remarkable progress over the years. He didn't want to alarm her or ruined everything by rushing her, but it would more likely take less than one thousand years to make her good. Far, far less than it.


End file.
